Girl, 9, gives birth in Mexico; teen father sought

Feb. 6, 2013
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Hospital General de Occidente in Guadalajara, Mexico, where a 9-year-old girl gave birth to a healthy daughter weighing nearly 6 pounds. The baby was delivered by Caesarean section. / State of Jalisco, Mexico

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

A 9-year-old girl who was impregnated when she was 8 has given birth to a healthy girl weighing nearly 6 pounds in Guadalajara, Mexico, authorities say.

Police are seeking the 17-year-old father, who fled two months ago, when the girl realized she was pregnant, Lino Ginzalez Corona, spokesperson at Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office, told ABC News.

The 5-pound, 15-ounce baby girl was delivered by Caesarean section Jan. 27, Enrique Rabago, director of the Hospital General de Occidente, told a news conference Wednesday. The mother, identified only as Dafne, and child were released over the weekend.

"Due to her age, her body is not able (or) in the best shape to have a baby," he said.

She has been receiving psychological counseling and will be monitored closely. Her mother also approved a subcutaneous birth-control device.

For the skeptical, UPI offers this explanation for the hard-to-believe birth:

While giving birth at such a young age is obviously unusual, it is not impossible. The age when girls start menstruating is dropping -- although the average is still about 12 -- and even lower among Hispanic girls. Pregnancy can occur before a girl ever gets her first period, since the bleeding occurs at the end of the menstrual cycle after ovulation.

The girl is one of 11 children who live with their parents in a poor neighborhood 25 miles south of Guadalajara, ABC says. "Her parents work all day and were not watching after her, and therefore didn't realize what was about to happen," Corona said.

The girl told her mother she had been "dating" the teen believed to be the father. He fled after the girl's mother rejected his idea that the girl move in with him and raise the child, the Spanish news agency EFE says. (Milenio has the story in Spanish.)

"We are looking for the young man to get his story because the girl does not understand what has happened," said Jorge Villasenor, another representative from the prosecutor's office. "This is either rape or child sex abuse."

News reports say the youngest mother on record is a Peruvian girl who was 5-years, 7 months old when she delivered a boy by C-section in 1939.